WEISS COLLECTION

	SANTA SOPHIA AT CONSTANTINOPLE (HAGIA SOPHIA) WIENER, Jacques: Turkey, 1864, Bronze, 59 mm Obv: View of interior S^TE SOPHIE Ὰ CONSTANTINOPLE BATIE PAR L'EMPEREUR JUSTINIEN 532-537 CONVERTIE IN MOSQUÉE 1453 RESTAURÉE SOUS LE RÈGNE DU SULTAN ABDUL MEDJID 1847-1849 PAR G. FOSSATI. (Saint Sophia in Constantinople, built by Emperor Justinian 532-537, converted into a mosque 1453, restored under the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid 1847-1849 by Gaspare Fossati) Rev: Another view of interior Signed: J. WIENER F. BRUXELLES Ref: Van Hoydonck 206; Eidlitz 69/419; Reinecke 60; Eldem, 159; Bouhy 39; Ross M208; Weiss BW274 Constantinople (Istanbul, ancient Byzantium), the largest city and seaport of the Turkish republic and the capital of Turkey until 1923, has always been one of the strategic cities of the world. It is the former capital of the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. In 330 A.D. Constantine I (The Great) chose Byzantium as the site of New Rome, the capital of a unified Roman Empire, and renamed the city Constantinople. In 381 it became the seat of the patriarch of Constantinople (now the head of the Orthodox Church), the second most powerful bishop in Christendom (after the pope), and by the close of the 4^th century, the city was the greatest religious and commercial center in the Western world. In 532 a great fire prompted Emperor Justinian I (532-537) to begin a rebuilding project that is now regarded as the apotheosis of Byzantine art and architecture. Most of the existing structure of the Hagia Sophia (Santa Sophia) dates from this period. As the legend on the medal indicates, the building was converted to a mosque in 1453 and restored during the reign of the Sultan Abdul Medjid (Abd ul-Mejid, Abdülmecid) by the architect G. Fossati. The medal commemorates the restoration of the mosaics carried out by G. T. Fossati and his brother Giuseppe Fossati, who removed the thin coat of plaster with which they had been covered. The Hagia (Haghia) Sophia has what is known as a pendentive construction. Byzantine architects perfected a way of raising domes on piers instead of walls, which permitted lighting and communication from four directions. The transition from a cubic plan to the hemisphere was achieved by four inverted spherical triangles called pendentives–masses of masonry curved both horizontally and vertically. The pendentive dome could rest directly on a circular foundation or upon a cylindrical wall, called a drum, inserted between the two to increase height. LINK to photo of Hagia Sophia The Imperial Lodge Interior Dome Watercolor of the Interior by Philippe Chaperon Nave and South Aisle Imperial Gate Mosaic Interior of Church of Saint Sava HOME PAGE